NASA Races Clock in Shuttle Debris Search

MIKE SCHNEIDER

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Associated Press Writer

Teams searching Texas and Louisiana for debris from the space shuttle Columbia have only a few more weeks before spring growth of brush and trees makes it difficult to find more pieces, NASA officials said Wednesday.

About 5,700 people are still searching the primary debris field, an area that stretches about five miles by 250 miles across the two states, for parts from the shuttle. The Columbia broke up on reentry Feb. 1, killing all seven crew members.

Officials studying videotape of the shuttle's destruction believe other debris may have fallen in the snowy mountains west of Texas, though no shuttle debris has yet been found there.

"Our intention is to press on and not worry much about conditions," Mike Rudolphi, deputy director of Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and leader of NASA's efforts to recover debris, told members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

The board met for a second day of hearings Wednesday at Cape Canaveral.

About 54,000 pounds, roughly a quarter of the orbiter's weight, has so far been recovered. Of the 45,000 pieces, only about 1,400 pieces, have been laid out in place on a grid in a hangar at the Kennedy Space Center.

Workers hope to make a two-dimensional reconstruction of the shuttle with the parts to help investigators understand what happened to Columbia.

Parts from the shuttle's left wing get top priority, said Steven Altenus, shuttle test director at Kennedy Space Center, who is in charge of the reconstruction.

Investigators believe a section of the left wing was breached by fiery gases during Columbia's re-entry. Little of the left wing structure has been recovered.

One theory investigators are exploring is that the wing may have been damaged by foam insulation falling from the external fuel tank during liftoff on Jan. 16.

The director of the Kennedy Space Center said Tuesday he never thought foam debris posed a threat to the safety of the space shuttle fleet.

"If I thought it was a severe safety issue, certainly I would engage in recommending that we stop flying until we fixed it," Roy Bridges told the board. "To be honest I did not think that the … foam coming off had caused any significant damage in the program to date."

NASA has said it was aware of four flights since 1983 in which foam broke away from the external tanks.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Duane Deal, a board member, was curious why the foam didn't get more attention.

"Let's say, you have a test aircraft that's flying 112 flights and has five panels fall off, you would probably stand down your fleet," Deal told Bridges. "I want to get your perspective on how we may have five pieces of the external tank fall off yet we continued to fly."

The investigation board also heard from retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Aloysius Casey, a missile and rocket expert.

NASA may have to live with a risk factor of two catastrophes for every 113 shuttle flights, so it should limit its crew size and use robots and unmanned rockets whenever possible, Casey told board members.

Casey also recommended space shuttle flights resume as soon as possible. The work force, skills and even morale could erode to dangerous levels if the fleet is grounded for a long time, he said.

Casey put the shuttle's reliability at just over 98 percent, far better than for unmanned rockets, "but, in fact, I don't think it's good enough for optional human flight operations."